Railway draft appliance



May 28, 1935. w. J. REGAN ET AL RAILWAY DRAFT APPLIANCE File'e'i June 24, 1929 v wwutoz MZ/z'am J /?e an Patented May 28, 1935 UNITED STATES RAILWAY DRAFT APPLIANCE William J. Regan, Wilkinsburg, and Enoch George, Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa., assignors to The McConway & Torley Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania 1 Application June 24, 1929, Serial No. 373,241

provision of simple and efficient means for permitting a car coupler to swing laterally when the car upon which it is mounted passes around a curve in the track.

The principal feature of the invention consists in forming the rear end of the coupler shank with a cylindrical bearing surface which is concentric with a vertically extending aperture for receiving a tail pin by which the coupler may be connected to the draft yoke, and inassociating therewith a bearing block having its front vertical wall curved to correspond to the rear end of the coupler shank, the bearing block being interposed between the coupler and the forward follower of the draft gear and the draft yoke being formed with portions serving to guide the bearing block and having longitudinally extending slots for receiving the tail pm.

There are other features of the invention pertaining to advantageous relations of parts and details of construction, as will hereinafter appear and be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawing, illustrating apreferred embodiment of the invention;

Figure 1 is a plan view of the draft appliance showing the assembled relation of the parts, portions of the draft yoke being broken away and the forward follower of the draft gear being diagrammatically illustrated in dot and dash lines;

Figure 2 is a view, partly in vertical section and partly in side elevation, of the construction shown in Figure 1, the forward follower and the cushioning unit of the draft gear being diagrammatically indicated in dot and dash lines;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the bearing block which is operatively interposed between the shank of the coupler and the follower.

The car coupler I is provided at its forward end with the usual head (not shown) and is fashioned at its rear end with a vertically exagainst the follower 8 at the forward end of the cushioning unit 9 of the draft gear. The front vertical Wall ID of the bearing block is curved to correspond to the cylindrically curved surface 2 of the coupler shank. The block 6 thus not only provides a large bearing area against the follower or draft gear when the coupler moves rearwardly' in bufiing, but also affords a large bearing surface for the end of the coupler shank in the various buffing positions it may assume in service.

The draft yoke 5 preferably employed is of the hooded type and may advantageously be provided with horizontally aligned key slots l2 of standard location and size so that a coupler having a standard shank may be used for renewals whenever the special form of coupler l is not available. At their forward ends the arms l3 'of the yoke are provided with suitable longitudinally extending slots M for receiving the tail pin 4, these slots being in vertical alignment and being of sufficient length to permit the coupler to have full bufl'ing travel without necessitating rearward movement of the yoke. The forward ends of the yoke arms adjacent the tail pin slots I4 are increased in thickness to form, inwardly projecting bosses I5 which not only reinforce the yoke but also afford increased bearing area for the tail pin. In conjunction with the spaced side walls l6 which connect the forward ends of the yoke arms, the bosses l5 serve as guides for the movable bearing block 6 at the rear end of the coupler I, the block being thus constrained to move longitudinally. The block is of such length as to prevent it from passing out of the hooded portion of the yoke during bufiing movements. 7

The tail pin 4 may be of the headless type and may be conveniently retained in assembled position by a headed pin I! which passes through an opening 18 in the tail pin and through corresponding openings [9 in lugs 20 formed on the under side of the yoke at opposite ends of the adjacent tail pin slot I4. A cotter 2| serves to retain the supporting pin IT in place.

We claim:

1. A railway draft appliance involving a car coupler having a curved rear end and provided with a pivot pin opening concentric with said end, a draft yoke, a bearing block of substantially uniform height and width throughout and having a rear face adapted to engage the forward follower of a draft gear and terminating at its forward end in a curved face cooperating with the curved face of the coupler, said coupler being slidable longitudinally with respect to said block, and a tail pin extending through said pivot opening for movably connecting the coupler and yoke, said yoke being provided with vertically aligned longitudinally extending slots for receiving the tail pin and being formed with inwardly projecting bosses adjacent :said slots and having ilaterally spacedparallefl walls-evelapping opposite sides of said block, said bosses and walls forming guides for said block 11118.11 operative positions of the latter.

2. A railway draft appliance involving a car" coupler having a curved rear end and ,provided with a pivot pin opening *concentrictherewith,

a bearing block of substantially iunif'orm height and width throughout and terminating at its forward end in a curved face cooperating with the curved end of the coupler, said coupler being slidable longitudinally with respect to said block, a draft yoke, and a tail pin extending through said pivot pin opening for connecting the yoke and coupler, said yoke being provided at its forward end with vertically aligned slots 'for receiving the tail pinand havin'g bosses adjacent .said slots :and having laterally spaced parallel sidewalls between which the bearing block a'novably mounted, said bosses and the inner faces of said side walls forming guides for the bearing block; and said side Walls overlapping :said beefing block for a distance greater than :the'wextent aof .bnffing movement of said coupler.

WILLIAM J. REGAN. ENOCH GEORGE, JR. 

